


improvement

by UnluckiestFridays



Series: The Doctor Meets the Doctor [12]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Gen, Humor, Multiple Doctors (Doctor Who)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-14
Updated: 2020-03-14
Packaged: 2021-03-01 05:01:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 657
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23139673
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UnluckiestFridays/pseuds/UnluckiestFridays
Summary: The Doctor's TARDIS roughly lands in a field on a normal day under a perfectly pleasant sun. He exits the TARDIS with Bill and Nardole and comes face to face with another TARDIS. The sign on the front is black. He's not sure he likes it.
Series: The Doctor Meets the Doctor [12]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1265003
Comments: 21
Kudos: 217





	improvement

**Author's Note:**

> It's missing them hours :')
> 
> Also, not beta read so any errors are accidental and i missed them

"What is going on?" Bill shouts over the ruckus from the TARDIS.

Nardole lets out a squeal and tightens his grip on the railings off to the side. Bill almost falls but manages, at the last second, to grab hold of the console.

"I'm not sure!" The Doctor yells towards her. "Wherever we're going, she doesn't like it!"

"Who doesn't?" Bill questions.

_Thump_

The TARDIS lands abruptly and the Doctor shuffles his feet a bit to keep his stability. Bill and Nardole hesitantly release their holds on whatever leverage they had and round the console to join him.

They're silent. 

"Have we landed?" Bill asks cautiously.

The Doctor flashes her a grin and runs to the doors of the TARDIS. He throws them open and steps out into... a field.

It's almost completely normal from the tall grass blowing in the gentle breeze, to the giant ball of flaming gas in the sky shining down on them and illuminating their features. 

A couple of magpies fly passed overhead. The Doctor watches them disappear into the distance before letting his eyes fall back to the field and what stands a few feet ahead of them. 

Almost completely normal, indeed. 

In front of him, half submerged in the tall grass like himself and his ship is another blue police box. Sitting innocently, like it belongs there.

"Sir? Is that the TARDIS?" Nardole's voice perks up from his right.

"Only one way to find out," the Doctor replies mysteriously.

He begins the journey, trudging through the grass and leaving a flattened path for Bill and Nardole in his wake.

It takes exactly thirty-one seconds to cross from his own TARDIS to the other TARDIS opposite his own. He pauses just in front of it.

"The sign is black," Bill points out immediately.

So it is. 

He's not sure he likes it. 

"So? Is it the TARDIS?" Nardole asks. "Do we need to leave?"

Instead of replying, the Doctor raises his hand and raps four times on the wooden doors to the box. The windows are glowing, a sign of life inside.

A couple of seconds after knocking, the door opens inwards and a man with grey hair, pale skin and blue eyes stands in the doorway. He's wearing a polo shirt with a woolen jumper over the top and a pair of sensible trousers and shoes to go with them.

The Doctor frowns distastefully. Has he really become... this?

"Can I help you, mate?" The man in the doorway (his future self?) asks.

His accent is British. Good sign. 

"Yes. You can't be here," the Doctor tells him. No time for pleasantries.

The man turns away to talk into the depths of his TARDIS. 

"He says we can't be here!" He shouts into the ship.

"Ask him why!" A female voice responds followed by a series of clanging noises.

He shares a look with Bill. She's smiling with confusion.

The man turns back to them.

"Why can't we be here?" He asks.

"Because of the paradox. Surely you must know this? I mean, two versions of the same person-"

"Hang on, mate," the man interrupts him then faces the inside of the TARDIS again, "he said something about a paradox! Something about two versions of the same person! I don't know!"

"Hang on, Graham!" The female shouts.

"Just a minute," the man, Graham, tells them.

"Uh," Bill says, "okay?"

The clanging returns followed by the sound of countless metal tools falling to the floor in a pile. Then a head of blonde hair pops up from behind the central column and gasps.

She hurries to round the console and then rushes from it to join Graham at the door, her coat swishing behind her.

"Oh! It's you!" She exclaims at the Doctor.

And then it all clicks. This man- Graham- isn't his future, the woman is.

"Oh," he breathes softly, relieved.

"Well, it's an improvement," Nardole nods his head approvingly.


End file.
